 |
Essay on The history of Fantasy Art
By  Thomas F Abrahamsson
A Short essay on the History of Fantasy and Fantasy Art.
Version 3 - Some spelling errors and small details fixed.
Fantasy and Fantasy art is not a new phenomena. Mankind has always
been a dreamer and has a strong need for the irrational. Even the
prehistoric cave paintings depicts mythical creatures, gods and
imaginary fantasy beasts. Pictures from caves in Spain, like the
AltaMira Cave, has pictures that are over 15000 years old (Carbon
dated). When first discovered, they were believed to be fakes -- how
could a simple caveman do such advanced paintings, the Darwinian
theory supporters stubbornly declared. Finally, thanks to discoveries
of other caves and new proofs the paintings were finally confirmed as
originals. The cavemen painted animals, mainly bison can be seen, but
also a large abstract figures can be seen.
Hieronymous Bosch
But if I had to chose a single artists as the father of fantasy art,
it would probably be Hieronymous Bosch (c 1450-1516). Bosch came
from the provincial city of s'hertogenbosch (Generally called "Den
Bosch", therefore his name) in the Netherlands. He worked in
isolation, though he was very aware of the contemporary religion
beliefs, astronomic, science and travel literature. He evolved
very personal and unique style, incomparable with any
contemporary artist.
It was a style of almost disturbing individuality, very
remote from the other artists working in the Italian renaissance
spirit dominating this time. Boschs works were truly a vision,
a hallucionatory and pictures of imagination...
His pictures depict unreal landscapes, burning buildings, wicked
human figures, demons and strange almost surreal objects -- all
rendered with a delicate precision using all modern painting
techniques at that time. This overall sense would later be picked
up and further refined several hundred years later by artists like
Salvador Dali and H.R. Giger.
Most famous of Boschs' work is the perplexing 'Garden of earthly
delights'. It's a large triptych which original function remains
obscure. In this painting we can clearly see all the themes that
are common in todays modern fantasy art.
In the late 19'th century, the romantic era and the rise
of imaginary fiction also
became a hint of what fantasy art would be. An example
is the paintings of John Martin
who did renditions of Armageddon, fantastic
architectures and so on.
Fantasy art has its roots in the fantasy literature.
What we today mean with the fantasy genre is something which came into
being in the 1960's as an off-shoot of the recent wave of science
fiction which was undergoing considerable changes at this time.
Man had just set his foot on the moon and space travel was all by a
sudden reality. Technology invaded our homes, TV's, radios and all
other electric gizmos had come to stay. More and more people came to
the conclusion that "progress"
Instead of focusing on the technology and look out into space, a new
world was discovered. A more human world, looking inside ourselves
rather than out. The artist that came into focus was John Ronald
Reuel Tolkien, a professor from Oxford.
J.R.R. Tolkien
 Tolkien, and the breakthrough of fantasy came in the second half of
the 20'th century. J.R.R. Tolkien was born in 1892 in Bloemfontein in
south Africa. He family was of German origin, but his parents were
from Warwick-shire in England. When Tolkien was four years old, the
family decided to move back to england due to the bad health of their
weak son. In 1896 Tolkien's father died and his mother moved to
Birmingham. The young Tolkien didn't find his place in the English
society, but dreamed himself away to another world, "the place were I
belong".
Tolkien was a very gifted (and Christian) man, and eventually studied
literature at Oxford, from which he graduated in 1915. In 1919 he
became a Bachelor of arts and in 1924 he became a professor at the
university of Leeds. One year later he returned to Oxford where he
became the professor of Anglosaxian at Pembroke College. For twenty
years he stayed here, until he became a professor of the English
language at Merton College where he stayed until his retirement in
1959.
Tolkien published his first Fantasy book in in 1937, called "The
Hobbit". It was considered a rather amusing tales for kids by the
contemporary critics. They had no idea that this book was just a tiny
fragment of a lifelong work of Tolkien, a world of fantasy he worked
on for almost sixty years: The world of middle earth. It was a
complete, but unreal, world -- with its own mythology, religion and
history. As a linguistic professor, he put great care into producing
several new, complete languages for this world -- with their own
grammatics, alphabets and pronounce rules. At the age of sixty-three,
in 1955, Tolkien finally published the last of the three books in the
now legendary books of "The Lord of The Rings". These take place in
the huge, detailed world of Middle earth. In this aspect, the books
of Tolkien are with no doubt truly unique -- no writer has never again
put such a great and detailed work into a the creation of a vastly
intricate fictionary world. Four years after his death, the
"Simarillion" was published - some argue that this books is the
greatest achievement of fantasy. However, if you are not interested in
the World of Tolkien, or haven't read his more easily accessible tales
- my personal advice is to wait with Simarillion ...
These powerful fantasy epics had a great impact on the readers who
were stunned, but it wasn't any smash hit when it first
arrived. Gradually, it became more and more popular and more books were
printed. After five years, about 25 thousand books had been
sold. Sales continued to grow at an amazing rate and sold in millions.
Until now, the fantasy genre had been a small, unfocused area without
any attention from the public. Now, Tolkien all by a sudden changed
this. The enormous impact of Tolkien created a demand for more
fantasy. Today, almost all fantasy books produced are more or less
inspired of influenced by the great Tolkien.
One common denominator in all fantasy literature is that its always
set in a different world -- an isolated sphere that doesn't follow the
rational principles of our own own. Its these imaginary worlds that
are expressed in the fantasy art.
The original function of fantasy art was simply to illustrate the
literature. The old generation of fantasy artists all started out
as science fiction book illustrators. As with other forms of art,
it soon became obvious that also fantasy art would survive and
become an art form on its own.
In the last decade or two the western fantasy art has become more and
more diverse. The Japanese manga style has influenced many artists.
Finally, fantasy art today is no longer doomed to be a second class
book cover art form. The mainstream fantasy industry has accepted
science fiction and fantasy and the original canvases of the great
fantasy artists are very, very valuable.
Recommended Reading:
 |
| |  | A comprehensive encyclopedia of fantasy and science fiction art techniques.
First published in 1996, this A-Z features professional tips and step-by-step instructions for a variety of styles, from horror to heroic fantasy and creatures to characterisation. There are entries on all major tools and techniques, such as acrylics, airbrush, animation & computer software, pen & ink and explanations on how to apply each one. |
| |  | The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
This huge volume is the first comprehensive encyclopedia of the fantasy field. Not only does it describe the genre authoritatively, but it redefines it, offering an exciting new analysis of this highly diverse and hugely popular sphere of art. With more than 4,000 entries and over one million words, this volume covers every aspect of fantasy--literature, film, television, opera, art, and comics |
| |  | History of Art by H. W. Janson, Anthony F. Janson.
This one I have read. It has amazing art work from every period of time. It is a wonderful book to learn history of art from. |
| |  | The Story of Art by E. H. Gombrich
E.H. Gombrich's The Story of Art is one of the best introductory books on the history of art available today. The combination of Gombrich's insight into various art movements (particularly his discussion of Impressionism and Cubism) and the inclusion of many quality reproductions make this book exceptional. |
| |  | J.R.R. Tolkien : The Hobbit and the Complete Lord of the Rings
As far as i'm concerned this is THE work other Fantasy writers have to measure up to. Even though the story in terms of action and plot turns is a little bit outdated; the first thing you have to remember is the year it was written. Those were different times and there were other factors and circumstances that might have influenced the author. |
| |  | Realms of Tolkien : Images of Middle-Earth
With over a dozen artists, this book provides a great diversity in the way Tolkien's works are visualized. From the intense detail of Alan Lee and Ted Nasmith to the graceful brush strokes of Cor Blok, this book is a must-have! |  |
FARP Article Guestbook
| Date | Name | Comment | | | 6 Mar 2004 |  Archaeology student | Most of the cave paintings consist of larger hunted animals and 'abstract' signs, there are a few antropoform creatures, but these are believed to be depicting either shamans dressed as animals or the visions these shamans received during trance. Of course this is difficult to proof, but if we compare with modern day shamans we see a lot of similarities. And as far as I know there aren't any dragon or lizard-like cavepaintings! Oh, and radiocarbon-dating of an artifact is, if possible, used alongside other dating to get the most likely date. Archaeologists aren't stupid! Sorry for all this blabla, anyway, I liked the article! | |
| 7 Mar 2004 | Judi <Dragon-Ring@ | Wow this is a wonderful essay with lots of incite into things I'm sure many fans of fantasy art don't know and I love your artwork. Though I've been writing an essay on the art of Myth and Legend within the subject of Fantasy art and I just thought i aught to mention that the AltaMira Caves are not actually situated within France. I'm told its in Northern Spain. Good job though and keep dishing out that fantastic artwork. | |
| 17 Aug 2004 | Adam S. Winfield | Tolkien is indeed the father of what fantasy has become today. I didn't know that was how long he spent making this world of his own (which he bacically did). And believe it or not that is the first picture i have seen of him! Thanks for sharing this information! | |
| 22 Nov 2004 | Jenny | That's the first picture I've seen of him, too. It's kind of funny, though. He looks like Bilbo Baggins from the movie, or that he is a character out of his own stories...interesting. | |
| 8 Dec 2004 | WyvernFire | nice article! a little brief, but gives the reader a lot to look into. about the christian themes in tolkien Tracee, did you consider looking at gandalf's death and ressurection? I think you know where I'm going with this.  | |
| 1 Feb 2005 | Rahgnall | Was expecting more of an essay on the history of fantasy ART, not a short biography on tolkien. try talking about artists like Boris Velajeo. | |
| 15 Feb 2006 | Anonymous | I'm sorry, but whoever wrote this did not check it over before putting it one this site. At one point, they said H.R.R Tolkien instead of J.R.R. Tolkien. Really. There's another part, "In 1896, TOLKIENS father..." It should be Tolkien's, it's possessive. Also, where it mentions Tolkien's books, "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" should be capitalised, whereas here, it is written as "The hobbit" or "The lord of the rings". But wait, there's more. "These was just an excerpt of the huge world..." doesn't make sense. It could be either "These WERE just EXCERPTS..." or "THIS was just an excerpt.." Subject-verb agreement is quite simple. And verb tenses are also an issue in the sentence "...but it wasn't any smash hit when it first arrive." Obviously, the word should be ARRIVED, it's in the past. And of course, the very last part "Finally, fantasy art today is no longer doomed to be a second class book cover art form, the mainstream fantasy industry has accepted fantasy and the original canvases of the great fantasy artists are very, very valuable" is a comma splice. There should be a period between "form" and "the".
Thank you for your time. | |
| 1 Mar 2006 | Mr. Ruiz | I think that you should read a book named
Darkesss more than night! | |
| 4 Apr 2006 | Anonymous | It would have been nice to see at least in small part some mention of the contribution ancient religions have played in fastasy stories and art in history. China, Japan, Ireland, Rome, Germany among many other countries had ancient religions and folk lore that gave birth to many (occasionally in there evolved form) mythical/fantasy creatures and realms that we know today. | |
| 12 Jun 2007 | Anonymous | Altamira is not in France but in Spain! | |
| Page: [1] 2 3 4 |
 Back to the FARP main page.
 The collection of art and writing tutorials in the Elfwood Fantasy Art Resource (F.A.R.P.) is a part of Elfwood.
The FARP logo was created by  Miguel Krippahl (The muscular guy in the FARP-logo) and  Thomas F Abrahamsson (The text and general graphic design). Those sections written by volunteers are copyrighted to Thomas Abrahamsson and the respective writer. Elfwood is a project created by Thomas Abrahamsson. All rights reserved. Unauthorized Reproduction of the graphics, writings, and materials on these pages is absolutely prohibited! You may consider all material on these pages protected and copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. You may NOT use the images found at the FARP or Elfwood pages on your home pages! All of these images are copyright protected! Everything you see here represent the collaborative effort of the Elfwood community and Thomas Abrahamsson. Please read the Legal Disclaimer for more info on warranties/etc for these pages!
|
|
